Tomorrow (Tuesday, March 21), Parliament will finally vote on MP Iqra Khalid’s proposed motion M-103. This motion calls on Parliament to condemn all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination, including Islamophobia. The motion also calls for studies on how to address the problem of religious discrimination in Canada, and how to combat religious discrimination. Even...

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The Quebec City Mosque shooting was just one tragic manifestation of a growing problem of xenophobia and racism against Muslims. Motion M-103 calls for Canadian political leaders to clearly condemn racist attitudes towards Muslim-Canadians, as well as all religious minorities. The positions and statements of our political leaders can have a clear impact on racist attitudes and acts on the part of citizens. The federal motion will have no legal impact, that is, it will create NO new laws. Nevertheless, it will have a positive effect on the political climate in Canada if politicians of all backgrounds condemn religious discrimination.

M-103 is a motion which not only calls for the condemnation of all religious-based racism, but also calls for a study on how to combat such racism. The study should propose a holistic approach to addressing systemic racism and religious discrimination (including Islamophobia.) The motion also calls for more better data collection on hate crimes in Canada, better contextualization of such crimes, as well as a needs assessments for vulnerable communities.

Parliament passed a similar motion in the fall of 2016 – a motion which had backing from all major federal parties. As such, it is unclear why certain Conservative politicians are opposed to the new motion (M-103), which goes beyond a simple “condemnation,” and calls for studies and proposals on how to combat systemic racism and religious discrimination.

Here are other resources which CJPME has developed to address the problem of Islamophobia in Canada:

Islamophobia in Canada, – A factsheet showing how Islamophobia has been manifesting itself in Canadian society